Thermaltake Hardcano 12

Manufacturer: Thermaltake Technology
Supplied by: Thermaltake Technology
Street Price: TBA

By Dean Barker (1/10/2004)

 

Introduction

We have all seen the Baybus market explode in the past year.  Lots of styles and devices (not to mention numerous manufacturers) to keep the young and old happy with a wide selection for most any taste.  The Hardcano line has been out for some time now and has been maturing with features nicely in that time.  The most recent model in the Thermaltake Hardcano line up is the Hardcano 12.  It looks more like the face plate off a car stereo than a piece of computer hardware.  It looks so much like something from Pioneer rather than Thermaltake that Tt put that very illustration of a car stereo on the Hardcano 12's packaging.  Let's take a look at the specs of this newest Fan Controller and see if the Hardcano 12 is truly something different or just pretty packaging.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 148 (W) x 42 (H) x 166mm (D)

• Weight: 400gms

• Construction: Aluminum with plastic bezel

• Color: Black

• Manual and automatic fan speed control for up to four fans

• Blue backlighting

• Alarm functions

• Four thermal probes for monitoring

• All cables sleeved

What you get

The Hardcano 12 comes with everything you need for setting up monitoring and control of your fans.  The Hardcano can monitor up to four fans at once.  So it only stands to reason that included with the Hardcano 12 are four Molex adapters giving you the ability to plug in fans having a standard Molex power connector instead of being limited to the 3-pin jobs that the Hardcano 12 is designed to work with.  A very detailed and laid out manual is included along with five, one inch squares of double sided thermal tape and a small bag of mounting screws and jumpers.  (The jumpers are for use with the Thermaltake Smart Fan 2s to hook them in if you run those.)

  

The unit

The Hardcano 12 unit itself is a black colored box, a tad smaller than a CD-ROM designed for installation in a 5 1/4" bay.  The four 3-pin Molex connector lines coming out of the rear of the unit are sheathed in a blue mesh similar to what we have seen on the Tt power supplies.  It is powered by a single 4-pin Molex in the rear.  As you can see, there isn't much reach with that connector but I see this as a blow against cable clutter myself.

     

Each power line corresponds to a thin wired thermal probe.  The thin lined probes are infinitely more useful than the thicker gauged ones.  One reason is because you can attach a probe to the base of a CPU and fish the wires between the CPU socket pins.  In the second pic below, you will see that Thermaltake has gone to some pains to ensure that no confusion exists when attaching fans up to the Hardcano 12; pretty much everything is labeled.

 

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